Weapon firing events create optical flashes known as muzzle flashes. Muzzle flashes are incandescent flashes at the weapons muzzle caused by the ignition, the expulsion of burning powder grains and the expansion of powder gasses.
Current techniques for detecting firing events attempt to detect such muzzle flashes. At the present time, a few muzzle flash detecting systems can be used in the battle field. Examples of such systems include Radiance Technologies' WeaponWatch™, RAFAEL's SPOTLITE and Maryland Advanced Development Lab's VIPER. The VIPER equipment, for example, consists of a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) camera, together with real-time signal processing, magnetic compass, and user display and alarm. It is advertised as providing gun detection within 70 msec after gunfire and geolocation of the firing event. Using an MWIR-camera also allows concurrently performing forward looking infrared (FUR) imaging of a region of interest.